Petulant Potter
by Tilia
Summary: In an attempt to foster interhouse unity, Dumbledore sends Harry, Draco, Pansy, Hermione, Ron, and Blaise to live in a house outside Hogwarts. They each have six months to complete an exercise with a member of the other house. HP/DM


**Petulant Potter**

Pairing: Harry x Draco  
Genre: Humor, Drama, Romance  
Beta: Rebekah - THANKS!!!  
Author: Me, me, me!

**Chapter one: Dreams**

"_Hey, Potter," called a voice behind him. He didn't have to turn around, to know whose voice it was._

"_Wait a second!" the voice said, and Harry stopped. He was going to class, potion class, but he felt as though class could be canceled this time. Just as an exception, of course._

_He turned around, and Harry recognized the bright, blonde hair and the shiny grey-blue eyes immediately._

"_What's the matter, Malfoy?" he asked, and a little sigh escaped out of his throat._

_Malfoy raised his eyebrows then smiled._

Harry woke up and rubbed his eyes. He cursed. He woke up in that situation every time. He grabbed the cushion from behind his head and threw it across the room.

He heard a flannelly "Ouch!" some seconds later.

He closed his eyes hard and waited, hoping no one would see him, but he heard steps beside him, and shortly after that someone cleared his throat.

"Potter," that someone began, and Harry tried to close his eyes a bit harder, like a child.

"Hey, Potter," he heard again and this time the voice sounded amused. "What's all this fuss about?"

Harry didn't open his eyes; he just mumbled "Sorry."

He heard Malfoy sigh and put the cushion back behind Harry's head.

"You know what, Potter: it's enough, now. You can just tell me what your problem is. I tell you, I didn't flee from Weasley for free!"

Harry knew that Malfoy was right. But he didn't put the blame for all that on himself. He put it on Dumbledore.

It wasn't his idea. Dumbledore wanted the students from year 6 to get to know each other better, so the fighting between all the different houses could be ended.

Harry lived with two other Gryffindors and three Slytherins. He didn't know where they were, but it didn't matter to him. He just wanted this "excursion" to stop, but his wish was not fulfilled until now.

There was a kitchen, some bathrooms, a living room and three bedrooms in their house. Ron and Blaise Zabini used to sleep in one bedroom, Harry and Draco Malfoy used to sleep in the second bedroom, and Hermione and Pansy Parkinson used to sleep in the third bedroom. Actually, the pairs were a bit different at the beginning. Harry used to be in a room with Zabini, and Ron used to be with Malfoy.

Harry remembered exactly why they changed partners. It was just some days earlier... _°°FLASHBACK°° _

_It was almost two o'clock in the morning, and Zabini was still telling Harry friskily about his day._

_Harry wanted to sleep so badly, but he couldn't. Zabini talked and talked and talked..._

_  
It was like that for several days, and Harry just didn't get enough sleep._

_By about 3 o'clock Zabini's words were ebbing away, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief._

_But he only got a few minutes in peace. Zabini started to snore very loud. That was enough for Harry. _

_On nights like that Harry could sleep for just one hour. He took his blanket angrily and left the room in anger. He sat down on the porch and tried to get just a little more sleep this night._

_  
He had been sitting on the porch like that – listening to the chirp from the crickets – for just a few minutes, when a really angry Draco Malfoy arrived._

"_What are you doing here, Potter," he asked snottily, and Harry sighed._

_He explained everything to Malfoy, and it turned out that Malfoy was on the porch for the same reason as Harry himself._

_Ron was a very good snorer, too, and he used to talk while sleeping. Harry wasn't very bothered by that, but they got curtains in Hogwarts – here they had none._

_  
"I'll never sleep there again!" Malfoy spat and Harry agreed. "Let's change partners!" Malfoy said after some minutes, sounding as though it cost him quite an effort to suggest that. "Malfoy," Harry said and sighed again, "we are not allowed to pair with someone from our own house!" Malfoy looked at him angrily. "I know that! It wasn't my plan to take Zabini!" He fizzled.  
Harry looked at him in confusion. It took him a minute to understand what Malfoy was saying._

"_Oh," he said._

_  
°° FLASHBACK END °°_

And just like that, Harry and Malfoy had to share a room.

Since Harry got more sleep each night, his damn dream came back. He thought he had banished it, but now he realized that he merely been getting too little sleep, so he had not had time to dream.

He just couldn't understand what the dream tried to tell him over and over again.

"I got nightmares," he said quietly, and Malfoy came back to him. "Really?" he asked, and Harry nodded. Malfoy ran his hand through his hair.He hesitated for a second, then went to his closet and took out an phial with orange fluid in it.He gave it to Harry, who took it hesitatingly. "That's... err… my mom gave it to me, but I don't need it."Harry gave the phial a leery look. "Is that for dreamless sleep?" he asked and looked at the ampule with unappeasable voracity, but Malfoy shook his head.

"No… it just displaces nightmares… so you get dreams, but not nightmares," he said, shrugging.

Harry nodded and drank some. It tasted – remarkably – like almonds.  
"Thanks," he said, but Malfoy just smiled.

Harry closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, Malfoy stopped smiling. Everything was normal. He breathed easily.

He had just hallucinated!

Without nightmares, Harry fell asleep placidly. °

"Damn", Harry cursed, as he woke up again from his Malfoy-dream.

"That can't be the truth!" he blustered and got a confused look from Malfoy, who – now that it was starting to get bright – was awake.

"What's up?" he asked, and Harry sniffed.

Harry didn't pay attention to him and went into the bathroom, while murmuring something that sounded like, "So it's not… a nightmare… but what is it then?! ... unfair… it's unfair...!"

As he came out of the bathroom again, Malfoy was waiting for him. "Okay, Potter… what – is – up?" he asked, and Harry wanted to punch him in his pretty face, but he didn't.

"Nothing!" he ground out, cockling himself on his bed.

"We have to work together now, Potter! If we don't, we won't get that stupid exercise done! And I don't wanna work with you, if you're always griping like you are now!" Harry looked at him in high dudgeon. "What?!" he asked, and Malfoy grinned.

"You know... grippy… I like you better when you have humour!" he said, and Harry shook his head slowly. "Just tell me!" Malfoy demanded, and Harry sighed. "Why should I?" he asked, and Malfoy raised his eyebrow.

"Because you can't talk to someone else?" he said. Harry gave him an interrogative look.

"Everyone else is away. Don't ask where. I saw them getting into coaches when I looked out of the window..." "Okay… you wanna know?" Harry asked. Both of them sat in armchairs in front of the fireplace.

"I'm dreaming the same things all the time…" Harry began, running his hand through his hair."There is this person who stopped me from going to class. I am angry at first, but then this person began to smile and all the anger is like.. flying away or something.. . I wake up then everytime..", Harry explained, with some breaks, and Malfoy nodded understandingly"Easy thing," he said expertly, and Harry looked at him. "You have a big crush on that person!"Harry jumped out of his chair and shouted. "No! Damn, no, I'm not!" Malfoy grinned."What's sad about it? You can have a crush on someone sometimes!"

"No, I can't!"

"Potter, you're being stupid."

"Yeah… well… and? What about it? That's how it's supposed to be, isn't it?"

"Well… yes, it is," Malfoy said, grinning. "Nevertheless..." **  
**  
Malfoy stood up and Harry looked at him, confused. "Where are you going?"

"I'm hungry!"

"NO!"

Malfoy laughed quietly. "Er...I am...""No… I mean… you have to help me! I told you, so you have to help me now!" "What do you want me to do?"

"Make it go away!"

"You want me to make it go away?"

"Yes!" "Potter, what's wrong with you? I'm not able to stop you from having a crush on _anyone!_"

It was silent for a moment.

"Please!" Harry said quietly, falling again into his armchair. He closed his eyes and before he could react, Malfoy sat beside him. "Is it that bad?" he asked, and Harry nodded moodily.

"It's the worst!"

"You are a Gryffindor! Why don't you think positive? Maybe everything will go well?"

"How could everything go well?"

"You could talk to that person!"

Harry shook his head. Anything but that. It was a wonder that Malfoy wasn't laughing already – he didn't want to change that by telling him the truth. "If you're right… and I have a crush on that person, then I'm done. So do something!"

"What are you expecting?"

"Doesn't matter to me!" They just sat there silently for a while, and then Harry got an idea.

"Okay… we can make a deal!"

"A deal?"

"Yes! You make it go away - whatever it is – and I'll make the exercise alone!"

"Potter..."

"No, I'm serious! Stop shaking your head! I mean… you just have to do ONE thing now… and then it's done and you don't have to do anything the rest of the time. You have to like that point of view!"

"Potter, I'm not ABLE to help you!"

"But… why not?" Harry asked. Malfoy sighed.

He kept silent for a few minutes. Then he answered. "You could try having a crush on someone else!"

"Okay! Good… good! ... How?"

"I have no idea... meet someone else... one Date after the next one! You'll forget about_ whoever_" "No! I don't want to meet someone else!""So... you want to have a date with _whoever_?"

"Oh," Harry made a strange noise and felt caught.

"No! I don't! You just told me! You want to tie me into knots! I'm not having a crush on that person...! I am kinky, I got strange dreams, I look like a midget – you may be right in those points. But I'm not having a crush on someone! Definitely not!"

Malfoy grinned and raised his eyebrows.

"We'll go eat something now!" Harry said fixedly, and Malfoy followed him.

They went into the kitchen and browsed the fridge, finding something edible. Harry tried to think about their exercise.

Every pair got an exercise and 6 weeks to get it done. Only the pairs who get it done were allowed to go back to Hogwarts.

Harry and Draco got the exercise to brew Veritaserum

Harry got Malfoy in his group – it did not seem to be a big exercise. But they had to get the instructions from somewhere – and that seemed to be very hard.

"Wanna go to the library?" Harry asked, after they finished breakfast. They had a library in their house, too.

Malfoy grinned at him. "Wherever you wanna go is fine with me!"

TBC...

So that's it! I hope you like it! It'll be funnier in the next chapters, I think.

Thanks to the best beta in town (or world) **rebekah! Thank you!**


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